By He Yin, People’s Daily

Leaders of over 500 political parties and organizations from more than 150 countries attended the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on March 15.

Together, they discussed the important theme of “Path Towards Modernization: the Responsibility of Political Parties.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting and delivered a keynote speech, in which he gave Chinese answers to an series of thought-provoking questions such as “what kind of modernization do we need and how can we achieve it.”

“As our own future is closely connected with that of other countries and peoples, we will strive to provide new opportunities for world development, add new impetus to humanity’s exploration of paths towards modernization and make new contributions to the theory and practice of humanity’s modernization as we make new progress in Chinese modernization”, Xi said in the speech.

In today’s world, multiple challenges and crises are intertwined. The global economic recovery remains sluggish, the development gap is widening, ecological environment is deteriorating, and the Cold War mentality is lingering. Humanity’s modernization process has once again reached a crossroads of history.

Facing the complicated and severe situation, the CPC encourages world political parties to focus on modernization and build platforms for all relevant parties to explore paths to modernization. This fully indicates that China stands firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress. It is always committed to contributing to world modernization while advancing its own modernization.

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape, who’s also the leader of the Pangu Party, said the Chinese path to modernization provides a new choice for humanity to build a better future and countries should jointly explore paths to modernization that match their national conditions.

The history of human development is full of twists and turns. Similarly, the journey of each country to explore the path to modernization is also arduous. What kind of modernization the world needs and how the world can achieve it is an open topic that shall be constantly studied as time advances.

Eyeing on promoting humanity’s modernization at the important crossroads of history, Xi profoundly answered the questions of modernization. He called political parties to put the people first and ensure modernization is people-centered, uphold the principle of independence and explore diversified paths towards modernization, uphold fundamental principles and break new ground and ensure the continuity of the modernization process, help others to succeed while seeking their own success and ensure all can enjoy the outcomes of modernization, and forge ahead with enterprise and ensure firm leadership over modernization.

His proposals explained the responsibilities that shall be taken by political parties as an important force steering and driving the modernization process, and charted the course for political parties around the world to explore the path to modernization and to advance modernization.

The people are the creators of history and are the strongest bedrock and force in advancing modernization. The ultimate goal of modernization is people’s free and well-rounded development. For a modernization path to work and work well, it must put the people first.

Modernization is not “an exclusive patent” of a small handful of countries, nor is it a single answer question. It cannot be realized by a cookie cutter approach or simple “copy and paste.”

For any country to achieve modernization, it needs not only to follow the general laws governing the process, but more importantly consider its own national conditions and unique features.

For any country to achieve modernization, it should pursue common development through solidarity and cooperation and follow the principles of joint contribution, shared benefits and win-win outcome. It shall never preserve its own development privilege by suppressing and containing other countries’ endeavor to achieve modernization.

Political parties should boldly take on responsibilities and excel in their work. They should break the shackles of stale thinking, remove institutional barriers, explore new methods and new approaches, and break new ground in theories and practices to instill unceasing dynamism into the modernization process.

Political parties should integrate party building with national modernization, and steer the course and marshal strength for the modernization cause.

Achieving modernization is a dream that the Chinese people have strived to fulfill since modern times. The journey of over 100 years that the CPC has traversed to unite and lead the Chinese people in pursuing national rejuvenation is also an exploration of a path towards modernization.

Thanks to the unremitting efforts of generation after generation, China has found its own path to modernization. It is rooted in the country’s national conditions and also draws on the experience of other countries. It carries the imprint of history and traditional culture and also contains modern elements. It delivers benefit to the Chinese people and also advances common development of the world.

It is a sure path for China to build a stronger nation and realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is also a path that the country must take to seek progress for humanity and harmony for the entire world. The Chinese path to modernization, as it embraces a brighter future, will definitely benefit the world.

To achieve modernization is a common pursuit of people in all countries of the world. The CPC stands ready to share governance experience with political parties and organizations of other countries so that together they can make big strides on the path to modernization toward the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind.